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'I Love Those Guys' [Embedded journalists in Iraq are having their minds changed by US soldiers]
Opinion Journal Online ^ | May 23, 2007 | JEFF EMANUEL

Posted on 05/23/2007 5:36:47 PM PDT by Thebaddog

Operation Iraqi Freedom saw the advent of a practice that revolutionized modern war reporting: the embedding of journalists with frontline combat units in war..."We were offered an irresistible opportunity: free transportation to the front line of the war, dramatic pictures, dramatic sounds, great quotes," said Tom Gjelten of National Public Radio. "Who can pass that up?"

... The most spectacular recent case of a journalist with an antiwar mindset being completely overwhelmed into a change of heart by American soldiers, according to the public affairs officer, was a Greek public television reporter who had been embedded with an infantry unit that became entrenched in a 45-minute firefight with insurgents. Yanked out of the line of fire by a soldier who put the journalist's life above his own, he waited under cover and in fear of his life for the almost hourlong duration of the battle, with the best view possible of American soldiers in action against an armed and murderous enemy. He credits his having lived to tell the tale directly to those young troops. "He had tears in his eyes as he talked about it," said the public affairs officer. "He just kept saying, 'They saved my life, they saved my life. . . . These are great men; they are heroes.' Even after telling it several times, he couldn't get through the story without choking up--and this was a man who had arrived here with all of the disdain for the Iraq mission and for the American soldiers who he [like seemingly most Europeans] had seen as the bad guys in this fight."

(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: embed; embeds; heroes; iraq; waronterror
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To: Thebaddog

Excellent! Thank you for posting.

Interesting, but not unsurprising at all. The media cannot be expected to tell the correct story, because...THEY ONLY KNOW ONE SIDE. Most of them have no idea what the military is about.

All they need is exposure, and...boom. Instant military supporter.


21 posted on 05/23/2007 7:42:29 PM PDT by rlmorel (Liberals: If the Truth would help them, they would use it.)
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To: Thebaddog
...every day,from every state
from early on, to this very date
Same tomorrow, same next week
never complain, both strong and meek.

Bless them all

22 posted on 05/23/2007 7:52:08 PM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated)
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To: Thebaddog
"We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us."
-- George Orwell.

I will sleep well and safely tonight. Godspeed to all our rough men standing ready in the night. I owe a debt that can never be repaid with mere thanks.

23 posted on 05/23/2007 7:56:25 PM PDT by dirtboy (A store clerk has done more to fight the WOT than Rudy.)
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To: HiJinx
You make an interesting point that is akin to a Nazi being saved by a Jew. A white supremacist being saved by a black person.

Their hatred of America and our Ideals is as worse and concrete as the racists. They hate everything we stand for because they've been told to. Just like whites who never "met" blacks will believe what they've been told until they meet a black person and experience for themselves what they're like.

These liberals/journalists have little or no experience with servicemen. They also are completely surrounded by others who think the same things, so they get no opposing viewpoints to help them understand that we are just like them.

24 posted on 05/23/2007 9:35:37 PM PDT by DilJective (Proudly serving in the US Army)
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To: HiJinx
You make an interesting point that is akin to a Nazi being saved by a Jew. A white supremacist being saved by a black person.

Their hatred of America and our Ideals is as worse and concrete as the racists. They hate everything we stand for because they've been told to. Just like whites who never "met" blacks will believe what they've been told until they meet a black person and experience for themselves what they're like.

These liberals/journalists have little or no experience with servicemen. They also are completely surrounded by others who think the same things, so they get no opposing viewpoints to help them understand that we are just like them.

25 posted on 05/23/2007 9:41:59 PM PDT by DilJective (Proudly serving in the US Army)
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To: caisson71

I agree, the media is not worthy to lick their boots.


26 posted on 05/23/2007 9:43:55 PM PDT by AprilfromTexas
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To: DilJective

Yup, you understood me perfectly.
Thank you for your service, DilJective.


27 posted on 05/23/2007 10:05:42 PM PDT by HiJinx (Ask me about Troop Support...)
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To: Thebaddog

As a patriotic American and soldier I must do my duty to support and defend the constitution.


28 posted on 05/24/2007 5:37:29 AM PDT by rfreedom4u (My Freedom of speech trumps your feelings!)
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To: Thebaddog

Maybe Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid should be embedded for a couple of months.


29 posted on 05/24/2007 8:48:44 AM PDT by Cricket24 (ULTRA PATRIOT!!)
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To: Thebaddog
Bump for a July 4th tribute to our guys with boots on the ground.

We love you!

30 posted on 07/04/2007 8:06:55 PM PDT by roses of sharon
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